As it is impossible to verbally describe the sweetness of honey to one who has never tasted honey, so the goodness of God cannot be clearly communicated by way of teaching if we ourselves are not able to penetrate into the goodness of the Lord by our own experience. (St. Basil the Great, Conversations on … Continue reading Incommunicable experience
God’s Ineffability – Ron Rolheiser
God's Ineffability - What's Reveiled in Jesus' Eyes? Ron Rolheiser God, as I understand him, is not very well understood. A colleague of mine, now deceased, was fond of saying that. It’s a wise comment. Anyone who claims to understand God is deceived because the very first dogma we have about God affirms that God … Continue reading God’s Ineffability – Ron Rolheiser
Tradition and Testimony
Eyewitness testimony about Jesus is more authoritative than personal gnosis about Jesus. Later traditions within the church are only authoritative to the extent they rest on the earliest traditions of the church; traditions documented in the writings we know as the New Testament.
Alexei Ospipov on the limits of experience and the knowledge of God
Is it really possible to deny God only because everyday experience does not give Him to us? But we know that “everyday experience” is in no way absolute, that it encompasses only some superficial sides of events and phenomena, that plain common sense is limited, and that there are many irrefutable facts which do not … Continue reading Alexei Ospipov on the limits of experience and the knowledge of God
Preaching the gospel apophatically
"The limitation of theology and language, let alone of speaking about God, indicates that preaching is not just the verbal proclamation of the gospel in the pulpit but also the need for ritual, living and solidarity. It incorporates these significant elements not in a compartmentalized but in an integrative and holistic whole." Preaching The Gospel … Continue reading Preaching the gospel apophatically
Praying when God seems hidden
O God, you withdraw from our sight that you may be known by our love. Help us to enter the cloud where you are hidden and surrender all our certainty to the darkness of faith in Jesus Christ. From a Mennonite Hymnal
How unknowable is the love of God?
It is important to recognise the difference between true knowledge and complete knowledge. I know that God loves me truly, but I do not know all there is to know about that. The love of God is unknowable in that sense.
YHWH, a God of darkness and mystery as well as light and illumination
In western Christian art the living God is often associated with light, but a review of the Old Testament reveals a far more complex picture. For the God of Israel and everything else is associated with both darkness and light by the prophets. Here are a few examples that illustrate what I mean. God is … Continue reading YHWH, a God of darkness and mystery as well as light and illumination
John Keenan on The Emptiness of Christ
Some reflections by John P. Keenan on The Emptiness of Christ : The scriptural words of and about Jesus likewise describe him as empty of essence. [The] function of doctrine in Mahayana theology is not to communicate a body of information about God, but to engender a sense of the presence of God beyond all words. It is impossible … Continue reading John Keenan on The Emptiness of Christ
Theology for Knowing the Unknowable
I have long had a facination with Mystical Theology, which is also know as Apophatic Theology or Negative Theology. If you share these interests in any way, one book I have found quite accessible as an evangelical Christian is "The Mystery of God: Theology for Knowing the Unknowable" but Christopher A. Hall and Steven D. … Continue reading Theology for Knowing the Unknowable
The Via Negativa in the New Testament
The following quote is from "Blessed Negativities: The Contribution of Deconstruction to Theology" by Tony Kelly. I my explorations of negative Christology I have appreciated authors like this who illustrate negative theology emerging, not from monastic speculation, but from apostolic experience. Any assessment of deconstruction might do well to note how negation of a particular kind … Continue reading The Via Negativa in the New Testament
Comprehension of God
In so far as we comprehend God we have not fully comprehended God as God.
